What If
by OurDanniGirl
Summary: Based on the Time Child series by DanniFielding. A series of AU drabbles from serenitysaiyan, based around our favourite couple.
1. Stubborn

"Ugh!"

Danni flopped down on the sofa next to River, glaring daggers at the back of the Doctors head as he shuffled his way around the Ponds living room, trying to look at everything and anything except at the frustrated ginger.

River chucked, "What's he done this time sweetie?"

"He just…ugh! I don't know how you put up with him Mels, I really don't."

"I think he found me easy after dealing with you for so many years."

"Gee, thanks." Danni replied to the older woman. River just shook her head in amusement and handed her a glass of red wine.

"Come on; tell me, what's he done?"

Taking a large sip the younger sighed. "He's just so stubborn on some things, you know? It's not like us to argue, normally we see eye-to-eye, but with this? He's not budging."

"What are you trying to get him to do?" The blonde asked knowingly, smirking as she took a sip of her own drink.

The arguments between Danni and the Doctor were always entertaining. She knew that the ginger held a large part of his hearts, the same way he held most of hers in return, but, they would never act on it, always darting around each other. Usually it was entertaining to watch them stumble and stutter in odd occasions when their unorthodox relationship was questioned, but, every now and then, an argument like this would break out and it would be just that much more delicious to hear about.

"He won't take me to see Jack."

River raised an eyebrow. "Oh? I thought he was over his jealousy of the American Captain?"

"He has nothing to be jealous of, Mels. Jack is just a friend, I've told him that! And you!" She stared into her glass of red wine, swilling it gently. "Besides, why would he be jealous?"

"Oh Danni-Girl," River sighed, placing a hand on her arm, "You can be so defiant at times. I do wish you two would just admit it already and get a move on."

"There's nothing to act on." Danielle replied back, bluntly and to the point. There wasn't, she didn't know why River kept insisting there was. She and the Doctor were just friends. Best friends, yes, but friends. "He's just being stubborn and doesn't want me to see him, despite the fact that I'm pretty sure I haven't seen him in about a year now."

"He got that from you, you know."

Danni looked up from her glass to meet the amused look being sent her way. "What do you mean he got that from me?"

"This regeneration, he got the stubbornness from you."

"How?"

"Years of you jumping around him, I suppose. You've always known how to handle him, how to stand your ground. He got that from you when he regenerated – finally a way for him to argue back. But, I think it got in the way of what he truly wanted it for."

River trailed off, moving her gaze to the Time Lord who was still wondering aimlessly around the room, looking at the photos that Amy and Rory had around the house while they waited for them to come home. He always seemed interested in the wedding photos or ones of the two of them being a couple and, if she looked closely, she could see the look of longing on his face showing how much he wanted that too.

She looked to her side at the stubborn girl who was like a sister to her and saw her staring at the man also, a look of curiosity on her face.

"You know," she said, drawing the girls attention back to her, a blush spreading across her cheeks. "If you don't act soon, I will."

"He's already yours, Mels. I've seen the wedding."

She waived her free hand, her left; being obvious to point out that there was no ring. "Yes, in a Universe that doesn't exist where the marriage isn't legal."

"He's still yours."

"But I don't want him like that."

"You did at one point."

"Yes, but, then I met you. And I got to know you. And my small crush on the Doctor fell to the side of wanting my Danni-Girl to be happy."

Danni blinked, her eyes shining with tears and River smiled at her. Reaching over she plucked the wine glass from her hand and kissed her on the forehead.

"Go on. Take the risk, take the jump, before you do loose him and you end up wondering forever."

"But what if I fall? What if he doesn't want me and I fall so hard?"

"Oh, sweetie, but what if you fly?"

River took her hand and squeezed it encouragingly, smiling until she received a shaky smile in response. Danni squeezed her hand back, before letting go and getting to her feet, shyly walking over to where the Doctor was and slipping her hand in his.

The elder woman watched, taking a sip of her friends wine, as the man's eyes lit up as he looked down at his ginger haired companion. She smiled up at him, saying something that River didn't quite catch, before he grinned and led her gently from the room.

Ten minutes later, when Amy and Rory arrived home, they found the TARDIS in their back garden, with no Doctor to be seen, and River sitting on their couch with two glasses of wine; one in her hand and one on the table next to her.

"Where's the Doctor?" Amy asked her daughter, shrugging out of her coat as Rory went to put on the kettle for tea.

"Hopefully talking to Danni and being stubborn in the right way."

Amy stopped, a grin suddenly appearing on her face. "You mean…?"

"This should be where it all starts, mother. You're welcome."

With a laugh, Amy plopped down on the couch and gave River a hug. "You have to tell me all about it. How did you convince her to do it?"

"I told her to stop being stubborn." She responded, smiling, her eyes moving to the window where the TARIDS was visible in the moonlight, her lights on and her doors firmly shut, as the two occupants sat down and finally stopped dancing around each other.


	2. Wrong Time

"I don't understand."

Donna's voice broke through her musings and Danni turned to face the console, where the other ginger woman stood. With a sigh, she stood up and shut the TARDIS doors, closing off the surrounding space and facing the woman, her musings leaving as she prepared for what was to come.

"What don't you understand?"

"River Song."

Danni ran a hand through her hair, moving over to the console and sitting on the steps, Donna sitting down next to her.

"What about her?"

"She's big in the Doctors future, yeah? But, the way she acted, she seemed like she would be closer than the two of you are. That I don't understand."

"What's not to get? She's big in his future, really big. I know her too. I love her to pieces."

"Yeah, but, you and the Doctor, you dance around each other all of the time. I just figured you would end up with him."

Danni laughed. "The Doctor and I are just friend's Donna. That's it. Just friends."

"'Just friends' don't look at each other like you two look at each other." The other woman countered, holding Danni's gaze and challenging it.

The younger ginger sighed, shaking her head. "I can't do this Donna, I can't explain it right now. Just know that everything works out the way it does, yeah?"

"It won't do if you're not with him."

"But I can't!"

Donna blinked at the outbreak of her friend, watching as her hands clenched into fists and her hair fell to hide her face. She reached out and placed a comforting hand on Danni's arm and waited until she moved her head, showing her face and the tears that were falling.

"Oh you." She breathed out, moving and drawing the other girl into her arms to hold her close.

"You know," Danni began, "when I first met him, I didn't want to get involved with anyone. I didn't have the time or energy and I didn't think I was ready for it, let along what it would do to the pair of us if I suddenly jumped back to my Universe. But, he was so good to me and I got swept up in that and little by little I found myself falling for him."

She pulled away, enough for Donna to look into her eyes that shone with unshed tears and her love for the time travelling man who had taken her in. "When I look into his eyes, Donna, I don't see perfection. I don't see a love story that would necessarily be something people would watch on a big screen and dream about. He's the Doctor, he would never be one for that. But, I do see someone who will fight for me and protect me and love me in spite of all the ways I am still a wreck. I see home, Donna. Wherever he is, that's my home."

Donna, sniffed, a tear running down her face for the sad story the two wove.

"And do you know what the saddest thing is?" Danni continued, "The saddest thing is meeting the right person at the wrong time. Or, in my case, the wrong Universe. Because, no matter how he or I feel, I can't stay. No matter how well we click together, or how much I want to stay put, my own Universe is calling to me and I will have to return there at some point. Meaning that all of this, all of my feelings, are for nothing. So, if I have to suffer, why should he suffer to?"

Danni's tears fell unchecked as she poured her heart out to her friend. Pulling her into a hug again, the two women clung to each other while Donna tried to calm her down.

Around the door, the Doctor felt his own tears run down his face as he learnt of his future with his closest friend. And part of him resolved that he would change it somehow. Even if it hurt the two of them in the end, he wanted what he felt with her too; home.


End file.
